Ok so yes I found an old 2x4 piece of shelf. It, tiki torches, bamboo sticks for tomato garden, and I had a real fire that burned to embers.

I had the layer of coal at the bottom, wood atop, and let it go to ember. Added more coals when embers and opened door. It seems to have lit...maybe. I have a glow of red around a saucer sized blue ring in the middle, dark coals fill the rest of the stove. I'm 2 layers thick, the stove is only reading 200 degrees, now what!? Stack and smother, wait 20 mins and see if it spreads? Ash door still wide open.

update to update, it seems to be spreading, red coals around blue a bit wider, still steady at 200 degrees.

Thanks poco, I think we're finally on to something, I have hope! So feed the middle over the blue as opposed to loading more on dark sides, yes? Few coals at a time, etc...? Ash door remains wide open...

yeah i would leave the ash door open for a bit longer. the blue flames will get bigger and taller as the volitiles burn off and you will indeed add more coal a shovel ful at a time over the burning bed. in time the bed will spread out toward the sides and in a day or so you will have a well established coal bed.

when its cooking good you wont see much blue flames, yet the hot orange-orangish white glow will fill the window. A very familiar sightpicture as you look for it when you walk in the door!

the future hurdle for ya will be in the finesse of the shaking of ash. but not tonite!! lets get you to be able to shut the door and learn air control.

again.... this is like throttling or steering a oceanliner!!! all input takes excessivly long to come to froishen.

P.S. this wait time is best used going into the control panel up there and filling out some info.... like where you at, ......ect...

Gotcha, and I assume the high heat comes later too, maybe not until you shut the door for it to build? YES it is spreading and the blue was getting big, another crackling shovelful just hit it. Quite a mound I have in the middle now, almost up to bottom of door height.

In retrospect my earlier comment about "the top of the bricks" was stupid, obviously what was meant was the front door bricks. Man that's still about 4 inches deep!

Yeah air control, something I am the master of using wood... here no idea.

yes. the heat will radiate and build up in the stove as well as the coal bed and with the door shut and the air flow adjusted, all the air and heat wont be screaming up the pipe!.

as time will show, you will become familar with this balance and start to hear of things like draft, water column, manometers.....

this all has to do with air regulation. maintaining an even and constant air flow thru the coal bed,fire, will allow you to predict the heat output and longevity of the load. couple this control with the ash shaking, yet another adjustable "air flow" device and in a year you will be a coal burning ,word spreading, bandwagon member of the black rock society!

titleist1 wrote:I'm wondering if your gasket around the loading door is letting in too much air above the fire and that is what is killing the coal fire. Wood wouldn't care about that over fire air, but coal certainly would.

And by the way, you have a Mark series Harman stove, I didn't see where anyone else had mentioned that. If you have 3 grates it is a Mark III, if two grates either a Mark I or II. There should be a UL plate on the rear of the stove with that info on it.

It's 3 grates, no plate on rear, but there's a blower there so maybe it covers it. I don't use the blower as the ceiling in this room, downstairs, has vents so air rises to rest of house. Gasket seems to be ok, no smoke ever came out, and now I'm actually working on a lit pile here! I will say this, I had creosote buildup in pipe before it was cleaned. (another advantage to coal!) I actually had a small fire in the elbow last year as I found out this year. Burnt horrible globs. When I lit first fire this year and opened the ash door smoke did come out the front, not out of door frame though, but out of edges of the glass. That fire was quickly dismantled and put to sleep until the chimney sweep came.

Poconoeagle wrote:yes. the heat will radiate and build up in the stove as well as the coal bed and with the door shut and the air flow adjusted, all the air and heat wont be screaming up the pipe!.

as time will show, you will become familar with this balance and start to hear of things like draft, water column, manometers.....

this all has to do with air regulation. maintaining an even and constant air flow thru the coal bed,fire, will allow you to predict the heat output and longevity of the load. couple this control with the ash shaking, yet another adjustable "air flow" device and in a year you will be a coal burning ,word spreading, bandwagon member of the black rock society!

for now please avoid burning furniture and stick to the coal!

Lol, and yeah I never heard of a manometer so loads to learn. Funny you mention the heat going up the pipe, it's where my magnetic thermometer is, maybe I'll move it.

Ok so we got a huge blazing pile, how much more should I add? I just checked pipe temp, 350! Should I close door soon? I just did as it's burning fast, good? How many turns open to keep it going until morning? With 6 tight packed logs of wood I'd go about a 1/2 a turn overnight, this kept a propane like flame out the bottom on both sides and left you embers by morn. I have a feeling it's a much different answer here.

Ps, ok I updated a few things on profile, and man you are the greatest mod ever!

Last edited by coldcoal on Sun Dec 26, 2010 10:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

you should load the stove up to the top of the fire brick and i guess taper it down toward the front. you dont want burning coal up against the glass.

also the stack temp of a coal fire is much less than a good going wood fire... i like to put the thermometer on the top of the stove, over the outlet area, and then a second one on the pipe 6 or 8 inches up and monitor the difference in temp. its a way to see progress while learning the curve of air control if you dont have a manometer....YET...

With the 3 grates, its a Mark III. The gaskets around the loading and ash doors need to seal tight so that you can control your air via the spinner knob. If you haven't replaced them in the last two years, they are probably due. The glass panes in the door will have a gasket on the sides, but not at the top and bottom to allow an air wash to help keep the glass clean. This also allows some over fire air so that a puff back is less likely.

You may want to try the distribution fan, I can tell you from personal experience it will get a lot more heat off that stove. However, your house setup and heat distribution may not respond to the use of the fan like it does at our house. I run our fan on our Mark III all the time. Actually it is on a thermostat control, but the fan will only go off if the coal fire goes out.

Poconoeagle wrote:if the blue ladies are dancing pretty good you should close the ash door and close the air control and unscrew it a couple tree turns....

see how it reacts in the following 20-30 min... then slowly crank it in . again those familiar with the harman mark could guide ya.

if you have a dampner is it open? i asume there isnt a barometric dampner installed?

After the fire is burning well and you have the coal 5-6" deep....1-1.5 turns open will get you in the heat range that you need with the ash door closed. If the coal is up to the top of the fire bricks you will have about 10-15 hours of burn time before you need to shake down and add more coal.If the stove is a MK III it may take 75-90# of coal to fill the fire box....

With a magnetic thermometer about 18" from the exhaust port on the flue pipe you should probably be around 200 - 250, with a probe thermometer 300 - 350. I have a magnetic on the top front of the side of the stove and it runs 500 - 525.

Playing it safe here, I would suggest the spinner knob open 4 turns to start after you load up the coal to the top of the firebrick. After about 20 minutes (set a kitchen timer, yes I really do this) close it to about 2 turns. I have a lot of experience burning wood in our Mark III as well as coal and like you, could get a complete night of a full load of wood with the spinner at about 1/2. With a full load of coal and the spinner at about 1/2 I can go about 36 hours, however you won't get near enough heat for weather like tonight - that is for mid 40's weather!

looks like you got it established! congrats. i see a few of those rear fire brick cracked as well as a chunk missing... they arnt much money, 2-3 bucks at tractor supply. fill that baby up to the top of the brick!